Remains - Key quotes Flashcards
Which metaphor symbolises something dark the reader did and can’t forget about?
‘His blood-shadow stays on the street, and out on patrol I walk past it day after day’
Which quote uses uncertain language to highlight the doubt in the mind of the reader and makes us wonder whether the looter should have actually been shot?
‘Probably armed, possibly not’
This quote is repeated to emphasise the speaker’s eternal guilt
Which quote uses gruesome imagery alongside colloquial language to highlight the reality of war and the lack of honour associated with doing these horrible things?
‘Sort of inside out … tosses his guts back into his body’
Which quotes use violent imagery and language to contrast the ideas of peace and tranquillity given by ‘sleep’ and ‘dream’?
‘Torn apart by a dozen rounds’
Which quote uses colloquial language to normalise the horrors the soldiers face and highlight how desensitised they’ve become to killing people during war?
‘Well myself and somebody else and somebody else…’
Which quote is repeated to emphasise the speaker’s frustration?
‘His bloody life in my bloody hands’
- also uses bloody imagery to emphasise the reality of war as blood is associated with death
- ‘bloody hands’ also implies the speaker believes he is guilty and the blood is on his hands
- ‘bloody’ could also be used as a swear word to emphasise the speaker’s frustration
Which quote uses violent and sensory language and a present tense and what is the effect of each technique?
‘I see every round as it rips through his life’
- rips = violent lang, highlights reality of war
- I see = sensory lang, emphasises the speaker still has clear memory of the event and can’t forget
- I see = present tense, shows the speaker is still effected by it today and will be forever
Which quote indicates the speakers desperation to rid himself of the guilt and memories of the incident?
‘And the drink and drugs won’t flush him out’
-use of the word flush suggests something needs to be cleansed and disposed of which shows just how desperate the speaker is to forget about his time at war
